$3m to help put Mackay on healthier path

The Mackay Regional Council says a Queensland Government grant will help make the city one of the most physically active in the state.

The council has been awarded $3 million to improve walkway and cycleway infrastructure as part of the Active Towns pilot program.

Councillor Kevin Casey says projects already earmarked include lighting the Bluewater Trail near Canelands, a secure bike locker at the Memorial Pool and a cross-city link from Paget.

"Completion of the Bluewater Trail, from River Street ... down to the Bluewater Quay, there's the lighting of the Bluewater Trail around Caneland Park so people can feel safe about it, also the missing link over at the Gooseponds near Magpies and the Bruce Highway," he said.

"We're putting in a new bikeway from Bridge Road through to Milton Street. You'll be able to jump on that and get back into town from out Paget way."

Cr Casey says joining up existing bikeways is also part of the plan.

"What we've trying to do in the last few years is join the dots so we do get trails through the place ... we go down somewhere and the path stops and then two or streets away the bicycle path or footpath starts again," he said.

"They're the sort of things we're trying to do - link up those around the place, particularly around schools where you have a lot of footpath traffic and kids riding their bikes."

Peter McCallum from Bicycle Mackay says he is confident the project will lead to more people riding and walking around the city.

"Things like signposting around the city to tell people where the paths that they're riding on go and how to get to places, like from the city heart to the university avoiding traffic using quiet backstreets and things like that," he said.

"Those sort of things don't cost a lot of money but are really beneficial in getting people on their bikes.

"Step by step things are improving in Mackay.

"I know that Mackay was one of the first places in Australia to develop a bike plan back in the 1970s, so there's always been a sort of positive feeling towards cycling."